


Silent Falling Snow, Part 2: Closure for a New Year

by justinsbuzz



Series: Everything Changes, Everything Stays arc [6]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, New Year's Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 22:13:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17252339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justinsbuzz/pseuds/justinsbuzz
Summary: Happy New Years. let's hope the next one wont destroy our brains.





	Silent Falling Snow, Part 2: Closure for a New Year

**Author's Note:**

> I'll keep it short. temp is 99.6 F. this was somewhat of a rush job, but i think i may have accidentally laid the foundation of things to come. and also, i wrote this about 2 hours before "Together Alone" aired so i think i have a 'Death Note' situation going on. enjoy.

Silent Falling Snow, Part 2: Closure for a New Year

The tides were gentle as they sloshed against the stone walkway that lead to Blue Diamonds sanctum, built inside of the cave north of Beach city. The snow was falling for the second day, but the walkway had no ice covering it, thanks to the Aquamarines sprinkling salt along the way. Steven was still a bit clumsy from time to time, so it had been a big help. And Garnet was with him as well, to make sure he doesn’t fall into the water. After the fight in the Great North, the remaining Aquamarines were doing there best to make up for their shortcomings, even after Steven reassured them that things were ok. They still held guilt though, and it pained him to see that. Within the sanctum, his footsteps echoed loudly against the walls, but was later muffled by the sound of the F’amethyst talking amongst themselves.

“How long do you think it will last. I don’t believe it could be permanent.” Steven heard one say.

“What if it was permanent? What if we actually found a way to cure the corruption without White Diamond?” another one spoke.

“A game changer. This could be a game changer. We could end up getting more people on our side! More gems to hang out with at least.” Spoke a lighter sounding voice, almost like an Aquamarine talking amongst them.

“Or end up curing some of the Diamonds most loyal ones. Jasper is vicious, but there could be worse ones amongst them.” Another voice rang out, sounding like a Lapis Lazuli. Steven hasn’t seen another one that wasn’t living at home in quite some time.

“We still need to make sure this one stick with her. And if it is the real thing, we need to cure the other Amethyst and Aquamarines first. We lost a lot of them up north. We can’t afford to lose any more.” A final voice spoke before all eyes landed on Steven, wearing a puffy pink coat. And then they landed on Garnet, which some looked mildly embarrassed, while few looked impressed with her fusion. Many of the other Homeworld gems were put off by Garnet, but they’re coming around to accepting her for who she is. Many of them stood aside as though they were in the presence of a real diamond, but some still knew him as Steven and kept their casual posture. Many of the Aquamarines fluttered backwards a bit. Steven attempted to ignore it and stayed on task.

“Is she awake? Out of her gem?” Steven asked before hearing a loud thump coming from a part of the wall that had a different pattern than the rest of the cave wall, as though there was clearly a hidden door embedded into it.

“That answers that.” Steven said worryingly. “Is she ok?”

“Well, if you mean she doesn’t look corrupted, then yeah. She looks like a Jasper. But if you mean she doesn’t act corrupted, then, that’s kind of a tossup.” One of the larger Amethyst said, nervously. “But I would advise not getting too close. Even if we pulled down a part of the door, that could give her a chance to break out and, well, grind you into a fine paste. No offense.”

“That’s why I’m here.” Garnet said with a smirk. “She won’t get even 5 steps near him without being knocked back in her cell.”

“Eh, I dunno. It took a lot to keep her in there. That door and everything around it is pure bedrock with some cooled off molten rock infused into it.” A long-haired Lapis Lazuli spoke, almost as though she was bragging. “Worse case scenario, we poof her, bubble her, and incase her in a huge block of ice. Just only until we get a lava pit going in here. Then we go the molten glass and hardened metallic alloy.”

“We won’t be doing that at all.” Steven said disapprovingly. “She’s family. F’amethyst, she’s technically one of you. She was born on earth like most of us. And family is always there and sticks with each other no matter what.”

Some of the F’amethyst looked ashamed at the thought of encasing Jasper’s gem inside of a block of molten glass. The Long-haired Lapis, on the other hand, looked disappointed that she might not get her own lava pool like the one they have inside the Gem chamber in the temple.

“I want to see her. Even if it’s for a quick second. I just want to know if everything is-” Steven was abruptly cut off by more thumping and howling from the other side of the large stone slab keeping Jasper at bay. “Please.”

Steven was tense. The idea of going toe to toe with Jasper again was very dangerous. But even if Jasper won’t want to talk to Steven, both he and Garnet want to make sure that the makeshift cure worked before attempting to make more. But to Steven, he still wants to at least try to talk to her. If Jasper really served Pink Diamond to some capacity, then she deserves to know the full truth.

In their time on Earth, the F’amethyst got to learn that some of them had the power to bend and shape stone with their minds, almost like Peridot’s metal bending power, but in this case, something more refined. So, in honoring Steven and Garnets wish, two of the largest F’amethysts in the cave moved cautiously closer to the misplaced stone slab and placed their hands on either side of it. They closed their eyes and concentrated on the slab, and very gently, a small horizontal slit had slowly opened in the middle of it. Steven began to walk towards the opening before Garnet put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Steven, are you sure about this?” Garnet asked worryingly “She might be cured, but she’s still wants to shatter you.”. Steven looked up at Garnet, who was not wearing her usual shades, but showed sadness and worry in her eyes. Steven had rarely seen that look before.

“I’m sure, Garnet. White Diamond may have been a lost cause, Jasper needs to know everything. She shouldn’t suffer like this. Being this angry.” Steven said looking back at the door “If she knew the truth, she could probably find some peace.”

“At least use your shield, Steven.” Garnet told him “I can see a lot of things behind that door. Better safe than sorry.”

Steven produced a large enough shield to cover both him and Garnet, and proceeded to walk towards the door’s opening. It was dark inside. Whoever was behind there before, howling and pounding against the wall, had become quiet. Merely a foot away from the door, Steven peered into the darkness to see if anyone was in there.

“Um, Jasper? Are you there? It’s me. Steven. I just want to talk.” Steven said meekly. “I know it’s been a while, and we kind of left off on a bad note. But I learned about Pink Diamond. A lot actually.”. Some of the gems behind him shifted uncomfortably. There are still a few who are trying to figure out things about Pink Diamond. “There’s something I know that you need to know. Like, really need to know. Pink Diamond, and Rose Quartz. They aren’t who any of us thought they were. When Pink Diamond came to earth, she fell in love with all of it. And when she found out what the Diamonds were doing, she couldn’t bear to see Earth get hurt anymore. She talked, pleaded, with the Diamonds. Her own family, to leave earth alone. They didn’t listen, so she created another persona. She shape-shifted to become Rose Quartz.”

There was still only silence. Nothing was starring inside the inky black room. Steven grew more tense the longer the conversation went on. His voice began to shake.

“Pink Diamond was Rose, Jasper. I couldn’t believe it myself. It made sense, and it didn’t make sense. And sometimes, it still doesn’t. But she wasn’t shattered. She lived. You don’t need to be angry anymore. The Diamonds, the know about it too now. You’re actually in Blue Diamonds sanctuary. She’ll be back soon, and she’ll tell you everything. Yellow Diamond is here as well, well somewhere.”.

A sense of dread had washed over Steven by the disturbing silence. He looked up at garnet, who seem to be as nervous as he was.

“Garnet.” Steven whispered to her. “Where is Yellow? I thought she was with you. Where is she?”

Garnet was quiet. She was frozen in shock. Something must have happened, or something is about to happen. Steven wasn’t the only one to notice this. Long-haired Lapis started drawing water in small streams across the cavern wall, in preparation in case of a sudden attack. Aquamarines positioned themselves above the door to get the pounce on Jasper in case she tries anything. Many of the F’amethysts near Steven slowly drew weapons in anticipation of anything.

“Jasper?” Steven called out with a quivering voice “Jasper! P-Please! Say something! Talk to me!”

It was at that moment, Garnet wrapped her arms around Steven to protect him. A fraction of a second later, what was once a slab with a small hole in it, had turned to dust. A large orange creature had busted through the doorway and pounced on Steven’s shield. Jasper, teeth gritted, and eyes burning, had broken free, but for only a moment. Vines of water wrapped itself around Jasper and shrew her back to the wall. More and more arms of water wrapped themselves around her, forming thick chains to lash her against the wall. Jasper roared and yelled at Steven, who was looking up in terror.

“You really think anyone would have fallen for that! Do you take me for a pebble, Rose!” Jasper roared at Steven as she fought against the chains. “You may have fooled those traitors, but I will not fall for such tales! And you dare say that you convinced the Diamonds! They would never see through such a ruse!”

There was a brief moment where Jasper’s arms had broken out of the chains before the Aquamarines used their devices to pin them back onto the wall. More and more chains began to form to the point which all that could be seen is her arms and head.

“The Diamonds know the truth now!” Garnet yelled back at her. “They know and have accepted Pink’s actions. Now we’re trying to fix the things that have been broken for so long.”

Steven saw that this wasn’t going anywhere. Jasper needed proof. Steven closed his eyes and dug deep within himself. He concentrated to reach out to her telepathically. He saw something. Something big in the darkness. This had to be her. For a moment, he reached out to her, and showed her Pink Diamonds aura, but was stopped instantly by a loud screech. The sound wasn’t something any creature had ever made before, but it was familiar to Steven. visions suddenly flashed across Stevens mind, showing everything that was originally showed to him by pearl. Everything he knew about his mom had visually poured out of him and into the darkness he saw before him, and the being within it. The entity in the darkness, it was Jasper, but not fully. The cure isn’t sticking. He was brought out of his trance to the thrashing sounds oh Jasper, shaking the walls while she was pinned to them. She was getting stronger, and the corruption started taking root all over again.

“Aqua’s, get away from her. It’s breaking!” Steven yelled at the Aquamarines who were too close for comfort to Jasper. They saw that her skin began to change. A brief flash from behind Steven caused him to nearly turn around before seeing Sapphire leaping over him and running to the wall. She began to freeze the chains of water that were binding the slowly corrupted Jasper. Jasper was contained for the moment.

“Jasper! Please! try to keep yourself together! The cure is wearing off. It’s not sticking!” Steven yelled at the thrashing Jasper. Steven then saw something more unusual than the creeping corruption. Jaspers eyes had turned completely pink. She continued to roar until her eyes went back to normal. Steven was not quite sure what had happened, but Jasper had stopped thrashing. No one let their guard down. Not even for an instant. Everything was quiet for a few moments, before they started to hear Jasper chuckle. It grew louder, and more manic.

“Your ruse. You convinced them too, didn’t you? Where does your damaging rampage of lies end! Everything on this planet turns corrupt the moment they touch soil. Even the Diamonds…the fools. I should have returned when I had the chance.” Jasper said in an odd tone. It was as though it was changing as sporadically as Jasper's appearance. “Everything you touch. Everything you say, and do. You corrupt everything in your path. And now, you’ve corrupted the Diamonds themselves. But you will never win, Rose. Never!”

She began to twitch and yelp. She inevitably began to sound glitchy, and repetitive. “You corrupt. You corrupt. You corrupt. You-u-ure corrupt. Co-rupt. Co-co-co-rupted. You corrupted my Diamonds! My Diamond! Corrupt! Corrupt!”

To Steven’s shear horror, Jasper's mind was slowly slipping. She just kept saying ‘corrupt’ until her words were no longer intelligible. Jasper was no longer recognizable. The corruption had taken her once more.

“No. she’s gone. again.” Steven murmured under his breath as the corrupted Jasper continued to struggle. All of the sudden, Japer's form had poofed all on its own. Her gem nearly hit the ground before Ruby caught it. One of the F’amethyst went to her and bubbled the gem, while another made a small cubby hole in the wall of the sanctuary to place the bubble in, and gently closed it. But before Ruby and sapphire knew it, Steven had bolted out of the sanctuary and across the stone walkway. Garnet fused together and took chase.

“Steven! Steven!” Garnet yelled after Steven who was almost to the house before slipping on the very end of the stone walkway. He landed on the cold sand, but he looked injured. Garnet made it to the end of the walkway to find Steven hunched over. “Steven!”

“WHY!?” Steven yelled at Garnet. “Why were you away Garnet!?”

Garnet walked closer to Steven to see his eyes had welled up with tears. He was hurt in a different way.

“Steven…I…” Garnet was lost for words. Wherever she was, or for whatever reason, it seemed too difficult to put into words. She froze again.

“If you had been here…the corrupted gems wouldn’t have escaped. And now, we’re lost 6 gems, Half the town hates us, and…WHERE WERE YOU!?” Steven yelled at her. Steven knew that Garnet would be gone for a day or two at a time to find the stray corrupted gem, sometimes even a week. But months? At this point, no answer would ease Steven’s anger.

“Something…something stowed away on the ship. Something very dangerous. Worse than any corrupted gem.” Garnet spoke quietly before being interrupted.

“If you’re talking about Obsidian, I already met her. She’s harmless. Mostly harmless.” Steven retorted back to Garnet who was shaking her head.

“No. Not her. This Gem, it has the power to cause a lot of damage. They can unlock the power of corruption. Twist and warp it in a way that could make it much worse for gems. This thing. This gem, it’s out to corrupt the cluster.” Garnet said sternly before realizing how she made it sound. She knelt down to where Steven was. “Steven. I shouldn’t have been away for so long. I should have checked in on you. I should have been there. I’m…I’m sorry.”

Steven looked lost in thought. ‘Something that could corrupt the cluster? Is that possible?’. He looked back up at Garnet. She never looked so miserable and still fused at the same time. He hugged garnet tightly as the snow began to fall again.

“Garnet. Don’t leave again. Please.” Steven whispered to her. “Please.”

\---------------

A fire roared in the stone fireplace within the Living-room. Connie was roasting marshmallows when Steven and Garnet walked in. Connie turned to greet them before seeing Steven with tears streaking down his face. she walked to him to comfort him, But Steven met her halfway.

“Things didn’t go well with jasper, did they?” Connie said, worried.

“The cure didn’t stick.” Steven mumbled. “We needed white diamond after all.”

Connie hugged Steven tight.

“You-”

“we’ll find a way. It’s just going to take longer than we hoped.” Steven cut Connie off accidentally. Connie pulled away from him slightly.

“I was going to say that you’ll figure something out, but it’s cool you said ‘we’”. Connie said blushing slightly.

“Can’t see doing this without you. Without all of you.” Steven said, looking around at everyone, even at the upside-down hanging Obsidian, who was starting to grow on Steven. for Garnet, on the other hand, the jury was still out.

\----------------

The sky cleared up for the first time in a while. Just in time for the new year’s fireworks party, hosted by the Homeworld gems and some interesting pieces of equipment. The F’amethyst’s and the rebel gems really wanted to make up for what had happened months before. The town was rebuilt, good as new, if not better. But the people there aren’t use to seeing new things like aliens flying around Beach City, or creating abstract meep-morps in unusual places. Let alone having to leave their homes when a bunch of rampaging corrupted gems making new windows in places that no one asked for one. Some of the people of the town understand that this is somewhat normal, and it would take some time to adjust, but for others it all seems to be going too fast. To the F’amethyst’s, hosting a show where things explode everywhere might ease some tensions. It was not a sound of an idea.

Steven wanted to just spend the rest of the night in, but Connie, Greg, and the rest of the Crystal Gems convinced him to come along. He uses to like the fireworks, but recently, he’s lost interest in a lot of things, and many people in his life saw this. Connie and the Gems hope to get Steven’s mind off of everything that had happened in the past year. On the beach, Steven, Greg, the Gems, and the Maheswaran’s gathered by the bonfire while Greg tuned his guitar. Lion was lying near Steven, enjoying the warmth of the fire, while Steven gazed into the bonfire, still lost in thought. He can’t help but get the image of Jasper writhing on the wall, and the images of Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz flooding into her. Did he make things even worse? Can the corruption be curable? Steven felt someone nudging him from his side.

“Anything good on?” Amethyst asked Steven curiously.

“Oh. Um, nah. Just reruns.” Steven replied in a dazed tone. Amethyst wrapped an arm around him.

“Steven. It’s been a rough year all around. But we made it through it alright. And even though it seems we’re right back where we started, but look around.” Amethyst whispered as she guided her hand across the scenery of the beach. The Pizza’s and Fryman’s were handing out food to the F’amethyst’s. Jenny was playing along with Greg’s guitar while Sadie hummed along. The era 3 Peridots were in their body-enhancers, lifting large light cannons and rocket tubes and shoving them into the ground at an angle. Connie was showing her parents how to roast marshmallows. “Steven, if you told me a year ago that not only you and Connie finally started dating, but the other F’amethysts would be here, with a ton of other gems from Homeworld who doesn’t want to kill us, I would say you finally cracked your gem.”

Amethyst leaned back on lion and looked at the stars and sighed.

“Don’t worry about all the things that went wrong. Think of the things that went right for once. The things that really matter. And know that you were the one that made it all possible. You did good, Ste-man. You did good” Amethyst said reassuringly.  
She was right, of course. His family had grown exponentially. He and Connie grew closer after things seemed to turn for the worse. He learned about the final truth of his mom, and was able to help the Diamonds, or most of them, realize that they were wrong. The Diamond Authority doesn’t seem to be as much of a threat anymore, but the Cluster is in danger. But beyond all of that, things were a little better now than it was a year ago.

“GAH!” Doug cried when his marshmallow suddenly burst into flames. That brought Steven back into reality. 

“That happens the first time, dad. You’ll get it.” Connie said reassuringly.

“That…was the 5th one.” Doug said sheepishly. Priyanka handed him hers, which seemed to be the most perfectly toasted marshmallow Steven had ever seen.

“Ok. Pass me a stick. I’m hungry now.” Steven asked Connie. Who seemed to have already toasted one for him.

“You seemed out of it, so I kind of had one ready for you. I think it’s still warm.” Connie said as she handed it to him.

“Wow. Thank you!” Steven said, taking a bite out of it.

“How’s your hooves and corn syrup?” Connie asked jokingly.

“Perfectly scorched by fire” Steven said with a chuckle.

“Hey, I think it’s starting.” Greg said, looking towards the ocean, where the Era 3’s was moving out of the way, and a tall F’amethyst approached the crowd.

“So, Hey. Um, not great at this sort of thing. I just want to say...” The F’amethyst started to say, very shy way. “Um, thank you for letting us crash here.”

“Literally!” Amethyst shouted out at the tall and nervous F’amethyst. Many people chuckled, including the nervous speaker.

“Uh, yeah. And sorry about some of the other stuff.” The F’amethyst speaker said sheepishly. “So. Apparently, humans like some things to explode, while other things not exploding, which is really weird. Ok enjoy.”

The Nervous F’amethyst speaker jogged out of the way and sat with the other F’amethysts nearby. From out of nowhere, an Aquamarine appeared between Steven and Connie, looking really shy. Steven seemed to be startled, but then noticed there was something in her outreached hand: a pink walkie talkie. Steven picked it up, and the Aquamarine fluttered away nervously.

“I think you know what to so” Greg said, looking at the walkie talkie. Steven smiled and looked at his watch. And began counting down.

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…”

Everyone around him got in on the count down.

“4, 3, 2.”

“If every pork-chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have any hot dogs.” Steven spoke into the walkie talkie before feeling the ground beneath him vibrate. From near the ocean, the cannons and mysterious tubes began to glow, and fire into the sky. Several pink fireworks with long spiraling tails shot out and exploded into the sky, showing an explosion in the shape of flowers, diamonds, and stars. Connie moved closer to Steven and whispered to him.

“What do you think?” She asked impatiently.

Steven liked the long ones with the spiraling tails ever since he was little, and every firework that launched had them. It was amazing. A perfect end to a perfectly rough year. 

“It’s wonderful, Connie.” Steven replied.

“I understand what you mean about how difficult it is to coordinate things with the F’Amethyst’s.” Connie said to Steven over the explosions.

“You planned this?” Steven asked, sounding both surprised and impressed.

“Eh, in our spare time. You did throw a great birthday party” Connie replied. She then kissed Steven’s cheek. “Happy New Year, Biscuit.”

“Happy New Year, Strawberry.” Steven said, moving closer to Connie.

Near the end, Steven noticed that Amethyst and Pearl had disappeared.

“Garnet, where’s Amethyst and Pearl?” Steven asked, only to realize she’s gone too. But his question was answered then a Tall, 4-armed woman with a bow walked by. Opal turned to wink at Steven. “Giant woman.”

Opal turned to the ocean and drew a prepared arrow with something at the end of it. It was Peridot. Before drawing it, she moved the tip of the arrow to her face and spoke in a low tone.

“Gas-lamp my favorite ship again, and the next one you’re on is going to hit White Diamonds butt.” Opal whispered to a tied-up Peridot, who was looking too excited to even notice that she was being threatened.

“FEED ME TO THE SKY!” Peridot squealed loudly. 

Opal shrugged and obliged the green Dorito. after all the cannons and rockets were done firing, in one swift action, Opal fired the huge arrow into the sky. For a brief moment, all that could be heard was Peridot’s loud squealing, before seeing the arrows splitting off into multiple rockets. In a cavalcade of loud popping noises, the sky lit up with the explosions of hundreds of fireworks going off. And everyone cheering. It took peridot a few moments to swim back to shore.

“Totally worth it.” Peridot said with a broad grin.  
\-----

Away from the beach, and behind the ‘Big Donut’, two people were seen, standing quietly. One was a very tall woman with shades, and another was a shorter woman wearing a cloak, and had one eye.

“I know the truth. And it’s something you should know as well. But first I must ask.” The tall woman with shades spoke in a low tone. “Who are you. Or what do you know?”

“All I am is the amalgam of the memories of two people. Born of a nightmare, but growing as a dream.” The one-eyed woman replied.

“Is that all?” The tall woman asked.

“I’ve been told that I’m some failed super weapon.” The one-eyed woman replied in an annoyed tone. “But that’s not who I am. I am me. And I’m getting tired being asked that.”

“If that’s the case, and know I can tell when a gem is lying, then you need to know that you aren’t alone.” The tall woman spoke.

“I’ve noticed a lot of the gems here tend to find their way. Scrape out their own identities. I actually like-” the one-eyed woman was cut off by the tall woman.

“No. I mean, you are not the only Obsidian here. She’s trying to jump-start the project again.” The tall woman spoke with the same low tone. “White did not like how things went down on Homeworld. After what I found out, she’s planning something big.”

“That project? You mean the Cluster?” The one-eyed woman asked.

“Not just the Cluster. She’s starting the nightshade project as well. What’s worse, she’s going to fuse both projects into one.” The tall woman spoke with a deep sense of worry in her tone.

“Fuse…no…” The one-eyed woman replied

“She doesn’t just want the cluster. She wants to boost it’s destructive power by tenfold. And she’s going to unleash it on every planet Blue and Yellow laid claim to.” The tall woman spoke.

“What does nightshade have to do with the cluster. How do I play into all of this?” The one-eyed woman asked.

“I’m not certain. You’re a mystery. You have powers that may be completely unpredictable. I thought Steven was the most unique gem, but you may rival that.” The tall woman replied.

“That’s a tall order. For now, what do we do?” The one-eyed woman asked.

“We wait.” The tall woman replied.

**Author's Note:**

> With things being the way they are IRL, i might not touch on another serious arc for a while. the little monologue at the ending will not be without meaning. but for now, i think what will be in the works for now will be a project i have on the back burner. basically a ton of crack-fic that could put 'Robot Chicken' to shame. the thing about that though is that it might branch on the 'Rated M' side of things. I'll try to keep it as clean as possible, but no promises. Peri will find some way to mess that up, with her fanfic addiction to shipping everyone in town with people that would make anyone cringe. Project: CFC is go//||\\\\.91026210 .sretal


End file.
